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OCT 16 87 16:31 TIBCOOU) HK GOVT
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A round-up of media reports and commentaries on' the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station
3.10.87 14.10.87
Saturday, October 10 Construction work on the foundation of No.l reactor at the Daya Bay nuclear plant was suspended after 316 of the 576 reinforcement bars for the first and the lowest of the five layers were found to have been omitted, the media reported in massive news and pictorial coverage.
Explanations on the errors by the managing director of HK Nuclear Investment Company, Sir Jack Cater and Peter Littlewood of the Guangdong Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company were widely reported in
the press .
In prominent headlines, Wen Wet Po, Ching Po and the HK Commercial Daily, said that experts had worked out remedial measures and that the Daya Bay plant would be built to the original design.
In a prominent report yesterday (2.10), Ming Pao Evening News quoted Chinese official sources as saying that it had been decided that the foundation layer in question would be demolished and re-built. The paper noted that this showed that the Chinese side had adopted a cautious and serious attitude towards the safety of the plant.
Press reports said that the HK Government issued a statement yesterday afternoon, saying that it had asked the HKNIC to submit a detailed report on the incident and on the remedial measures to be taken immediately after learning of the matter.
The Oriental Daily News reported that the mistakes at the Daya Bay plant were spotted in the middle of last month and that members of the Legco ad hoc group on the Daya Bay project had learnt of the matter yesterday morning. It was reported that convenor of the group Wong Po-yan was told of the incident on Thursday night.
Some papers noted that Legco members had different views on the incident.
Wong Po-yan of the Legco group told the proc efter meeting representatives from the JVC yesterday morning that it was a responsible act for the JVC not to hide the truth.
A member of the Legco group, Stephen Cheong, was quoted as saying that the quality control system being adopted by the JVC was found to be effective as it could detect problems at the earliest time.
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